STATE POMOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 6l 



this fruit has come in, and is coming in in larger and still larger 

 measure to compete with ours for a place in our own home 

 market. This it seems to me suggests and forces the considera- 

 tion of the question of protection. And that protection must 

 come by raising the standard of our home fruit by all the means 

 possible in growing and selection, care and attention, but also 

 by raising the standard of that fruit in packing so that every 

 package shall go upon the market for just what it purports to 

 be. And when we do that, then I think we can rest content and 

 feel that we can maintain ourselves in the market. We must 

 meet that condition. We cannot much longer continue to sell 

 our apples to the dealers and the packers who go about the 

 country and expect to realize the price which should be paid 

 for choice Maine grown fruit. And I say this forces upon us 

 the consideration of questions which once did not hold, and if 

 by the passage of some such measure which shall be not burden- 

 some but a wedge perhaps for future further legislation when 

 the time comes and we are ready to ask for it and insist upon 

 it — if by the passage of some such measure we may take the 

 initiative and open the way for the protection of the man who 

 packs his fruit honestly and brands it true to name, and prevent 

 that commercial packing which has so largely in past years 

 injured our fruit, — it is a step surely to be urged and I believe 

 to be taken. It was my good fortune, or poor fortune, last 

 winter on several occasions out of the State to see a barrel of 

 Maine apples opened on the platform and I confess to you 

 gentlemen, it made me feel mighty mean. 



They were taken out of commission houses and I couldn't 

 find where they were grown or who packed them. Evidently 

 they were not graded and not packed by the owners but had 

 been sold to be packed by dealers, and when they were emptied 

 out on the platform by the side of other fruit the reputation of 

 Maine sufifered. Now that being an objection we must meet 

 it, and some steps must be taken which will bring about a more 

 uniform as well as a higher standard of packing. 



Until that time we must depend upon State legislation and 

 secure there what will best promote the growing of choice fruit 

 here in New England. No one would for a moment think of 

 restricting the rights of any grower for those rights are mutual, 



